Column: Why are the Eagles after Owens?

PHILADELPHIA -- The Philadelphia Eagles, under the current regime, have always professed to suffer a severe allergic reaction to certain kinds of players.

Yet now, depending on how an arbitrator rules on Monday, it is possible that they could end up acquiring precisely the sort of player who makes their eyes water and their nose drip and their sneezing a series of violent spasms.

That the Birds actually pursued Terrell Owens, catcher of passes and inflamer of emotions, seemed so out of character for them that you can only assume they have succumbed to desperation. Three times to the very doorstep of the Super Bowl, three times they have tripped over the welcome mat. Enough already. You only get so many chances.

So it would seem that they have decided on the nothing-ventured, nothing-gained, no-great-reward-without-great-risk approach. You aren't sure whether to applaud such sudden daring or cringe at the prospect of a loose cannon set free on Cap'n Andy's poop deck.

The Birds have had a dire and glaringly obvious need for a game-breaker, someone to stretch both field and defense, especially in the playoffs, where they have been so anemic on offense, and Owens is certainly that. But there's a whole lot more to him besides, and not much of it is especially savory.

For the moment, he is infatuated with the Birds. He will play for them, he vows, or else. What, precisely, "or else means will be uncertain until we get the ruling from Stephen Burbank, a professor of law at Penn, on whether Owens is the property of the Baltimore Ravens, to whom he was traded, or a free agent, "free meaning free to rush into the Eagles' embrace.

Assuming they still want him.

And why wouldn't they?

He made 80 catches for 1,102 yards and nine touchdowns for San Francisco last season. That was an off-year by his standards. But his reception total was just five shy of the total managed by James Thrash and Todd Pinkston combined. And his number of touchdown receptions was three times their number.

But Owens is an unlanced boil. Eventually, he gets around to feuding with everyone -- teammates, coaches, management, media. Controversy and division trail in his tumultuous wake, and those are the exact things the Birds go out of their way to avoid.

So why would the Eagles, whose locker room is tranquil, be prepared to trade for such a disruptive force?

Have they decided that they need a touch of swagger, a dose of vinegar, after all?

A little oil on top of all that water? Some flamboyance?

Do they want to placate their fans, who clamor for a big gun?

Do they want to send a message to their players that they are going after the Big Game no matter what?

Are they trying to please Donovan McNabb, give him the receiver he needs, even though, loyal to the boss, he has never made any demands publicly?

Or is it a sense of now-or-never that drives them?

Andy Reid protects his players, sometimes to a ridiculous fault.

(We all remember the coach's response when asked about his wide receivers: "I'm satisfied with them.")

And Owens, no fool, assumes that he will have Big Red as his advocate.

Perhaps Reid feels that the rest of the team can rub off on Owens rather than the other way around and that Reid himself can effect a reform.

Perhaps he can. It would be quite a coup. Of course, the whole thing could turn into quite a calamity.

And perhaps the Birds feel that Owens' open admiration for McNabb will have a settling effect.

Meanwhile, the town that is apt to end up with Owens, feels -- and justifiably so -- rejected and shunned.

Owens makes playing for Baltimore sound like being exiled to a leper colony.

He will not -- absolutely will not -- play for the Ravens, he insists.

But Brian Billick, the coach, keeps turning the other cheek.

He says that while Ravens fans may be divided about the prospect of seeing Owens on their team, none suggest that he wouldn't furnish a jolt of excitement.

The intriguing thing is that the Ravens look like much more the natural fit for Owens, for their roster is laced with players whose off-field escapades have -- well, you wouldn't find them on the Eagles' roster.

Until, perhaps, now.

Reid has always insisted that wide receiver is not a position worth investing scads of money in.

And his offensive philosophy has always been to spread the ball around, not feature one player, the exception being McNabb.

The notion of sharing the ball instead of dominating it has been utterly foreign to Owens.

And when the ball does not come his way with the frequency he desires, he doesn't exactly meekly, mutely await his turn.

Maybe the Birds think they can change that.

And maybe they actually can.

Odds are against it, though.

But if the Birds are intent on rolling the little white cubes with the black dots, luck to them.